Ritual
by Ceriadara
Summary: It was kind of a ritual when he missed dinner, Rei mused...[KaiRei] Possibly tobecontinued.
1. Thank You

Rei glanced up from the dishes he was half-done drying in the dojo kitchen as he heard the icy winter wind rushing in and then the distinct sound of the front door being slammed visciously shut. Loud, angry, unintelligible protests in a very foreign language ran throughout the wooden hallways. Thick, heavy boots clomped up stairs, purposely being raucous. Another door was torn open and slammed shut with unneeded force.

_Kai's back,_ Rei thought, a slight smile on his face. He went back to his dishes, making a mental sticky note to fix something for Kai after dinner this evening.

Takao, Max, Kyoujou, and Hitoshi came in in a much quieter fashion than their captain.

"Honestly, I don't know what his problem is. I mean, it wasn't that bad or anything," Rei heard Takao complaining. He rolled his amber-gold eyes. _"Not that bad"_ meant, in Takao-speak, that it was some horrible publicity stunt gone even worse than it was when it began.

"Maybe his problem is the fact that you threw his blade to the rabid fangirls," he heard Max suggest. Rei sighed, shaking his head slightly. He swore the kid was getting less mature every day.

"I can't believe that you did that!" he heard Kyoujou squeak. The voices were getting much nearer to the kitchen now, their shoe-less feet making very little noise on the floor.

"Nor can I, really." Ah, there was Hitoshi and his blessed sanity. "I mean, a little immaturity I can handle, and the fact that he puts up with you when you act like a five-year-old on a daily basis says a lot about his tolerance. But honestly, that was going a little too far."

They entered the kitchen, slumping around the just-wiped-down kitchen table. "Hi, Rei," Max offered.

"So...movie didn't go exactly as planned?" He fought down a smirk. Hitoshi caught it and mock-glared at the teen but said nothing. Rei's smirk morphed into a genuine smile as he saw the torn, messy clothes and many bloody scratches the other boys sported on their faces and necks. "I gather Dranzer wasn't the only thing the fangirls got their hands on?"

Takao and Max shot him horrified glances, and he chuckled. "What do you guys want to eat tonight? Anything you want - _within reason_," he said firmly after seeing the all-too-familiar glint that Takao's eye often aquired when in a particularly excellent, often expensive, restraunt. He watched the World Champion wilt.

"Hey, can we put up different requests?" Max asked, raising a gloved hand. Rei shrugged.

"As long as it's nothing too elaborate."

"Cool. A cheeseburger is okay?" he asked hopefully. Rei nodded - thank Buddha American food was easy enough to make. He looked at Kyoujou and Hitoshi, knowing that Takao was still pondering what dish he wanted.

"Just some rice with an egg roll, if that's okay," said Kyoujou, smiling when Rei nodded.

"I have a date, actually," Hitoshi said, pushing himself up from his seat. "I need to go get ready."

"Whaa?" Takao said, his older brother's words snapping him out of his "Food-Zone". "You seriously have a date?"

Hitoshi smirked enigmatically and left.

"I hate it when he does that," Takao grumbled before returning to the far more important matter of his stomach and the food that would briefly reside there. "Okay, so can I get some sushi - anything'll do -, a coupla bowls of some of your famous really awesome soup, a few salads, and then that really awesome cake you made for my last birthday?"

"_No," _Rei said firmly. Max chuckled. "Just sushi, or just a bowl of soup, of just a salad. I'm not up to making a five-course meal tonight."

"Alright, alright," the slender Japanese black hole rumbled, propping his face in his hand. "Uh...I'll just have some rice balls...but can I have miso with it?"

Rei sighed, giving in just once. "Alright, fine. Now..." He picked up the sponge he had used to do the dishes and tossed it half-heartedly at Max. "Get out of my kitchen!"

"When'll dinner be ready?" Max asked as he, Takao, and Kyoujou were shoved with bodily force out of the kitchen. Rei tapped his lips in thought.

"Well...the dishes will take all of five minutes, and your food is really simple to make, so you'll be done in about ten or fifteen minutes. Takao, Kyoujou, yours'll be about twenty. That okay with you guys?"

The teens nodded in agreement and scampered off somewhere...well, Max and Takao did the actual scampering, dragging a protesting Kyoujou behind them. They ignored his pleads to just have some peace and quiet with his laptop, drowning the poor boy out with their chatter...something about the living room and red paint. Rei should've done something to stop it, and he would have three years ago...but now he knew it was like trying to stop a tsunami with a feather.

Smiling slightly, he returned to the dishes, mind focused on the task at hand.

* * *

Rei sighed, putting away the last newly-cleaned dishes. He glanced over at the clock on the stove - nearly one a.m. He sighed - Hitoshi had come back an hour before - after his six-hour date, which Rei thought was ridiculous until he realized that Hitoshi was actually old enough to go to nightclubs and such - and thankfully had helped him scrape the remnants of the red paint that had been splattered on the walls of the training hall by the World Champion and his entourage. Well, okay, so Kyoujou hadn't _really_ taken part. Sad as it was, Rei just couldn't find it in him to deprive them of their food.

After they had eaten and profusely apologized, Rei attempted to have them clean up the titanic mess. Unfortunately, Max and Takao somehow got into a mock-wrestling match which ended with two broken lamps, a split end table, and a large crack on the DVD player. Rei had then sent Kyoujou home and locked the two other bladers in their rooms with a master key given to him by Hiroshi.

That had been three hours ago. He had spent the remaining two on his own on his hands and knees, scrubbing the red off of the floor, vacuuming up the glass shards from the lamps, attempting to place an estimate on the cost of the DVD player, and scouring the phone book for a place he could call tomorrow to get the split end table repaired. Honestly, those two were nearly more trouble then they were worth - the fact that he was able to take all these events in stride and move on proved he had been around them for far too long.

He rung out the washcloth he had been using on the dishes from dinner and made his way into the laundry room behind the kitchen, where he threw it into the washing machine, which he then set and started. After starting up the dryer as well, he extinguished the lights and closed the door behind him.

The dojo was silent now, save for the familiar gentle thrumming of the clothes in the washer and dryer. He loved being up this late - or rising before the sun, not that he'd been doing that much lately. He switched on the coffeepot and placed the old-fashioned kettle on the stove, taking out a box of herbal teabags he had picked up at the supermarket yesterday. The combined sounds, hissing stove, rumbling coffeepot, and gentle thrumming of the laundry very nearly put him to sleep.

They did, in fact, as he found half an hour later when the shrill whistle of the kettle jolted him awake. He held back a curse, leaping for the kettle, and praying that he hadn't awoken anyone. He switched the coffeepot off just before the timer went off on that too, breathing a sigh of relief. He eased the kettle off the stove, grabbing two light creme mugs out of a cabinet with one hand. He poured the boiling-hot water from the kettle into one, dropping in a teabag.

He set the kettle down again before picking up the coffeepot and pouring a full cup of black coffee. He then placed two slices of bread in the toaster and pulled out the boysenberry jelly and margarine and waited. He nearly dozed off again, jumping up and biting his tongue when the toaster popped, the noise like a bomb in the relative silence of the very-early-morning dojo. He stood, snatching a mathing creme plate from a cabinet as he passed, and laying the toast on it.

He smiled, remembering the first time Kai had missed dinner, just after the team had been formed. Not sure what to do, he had waited up for the Russian enigma until around three in the morning, when he had slipped in through the back door. He had offered a pate of food, which had been coldly turned down. He had then been icily - when was the teen not aloof and cold then?- informed that Kai was not a fan of dinner, and that heavier things weighed down the stomach and heart and digestive system if they were eaten right before bed.

The next time it had occured, Rei had simply made a slice of toast for him and left it on a covered plate before going to bed. The Russian teen had eaten it, and the ritual just grew from there. Rei noticed that Kai used only boysenberry jam on his bread of biscuits or muffins or whatever the team was having. He saw that Kai very often indulged in black coffee - something Rei disliked in general - on late nights or just before he turned in for the evening. He realized that Kai ate his toast with margarine...and so every time Kai was out late, or missed dinner for some reason, Rei would, without fail, make two slices of toast with thinly spread margarine, boysenberry jam, and one cup of black coffee.

The herbal tea was for him, actually. Kai had promised a day off for the team months ago, so Rei was hoping he would be able to sleep past five in the morning, when he usually arose. Unfortunately, he needed something to put him to sleep and keep him there past that time, as his body was so used to the rigours of Kai's rather intensive - though effective, Rei would admit - training. Unfortunately, no such effect seemed to have appeared in either Takao, Max, or Kyoujou.

As Rei slid the silver knife over the slice of toast, spreading the margarine thinly, his mind wandered to the mystery that was Hiwatari Kai. Even though he had been with the team for three years, they still knew virtually nothing about him. They knew his grandfather was a sadistic bastard, that he had been raised in some sick, twisted version of Hell that would make even Satan weep for mercy, and that his "friends" were possibly psychotic...but other then that, they had no real information about the teen.

And yet, even knowing that he knew next to nothing about the gorgeous teen - and yes, he was _gorgeous_ - he still found himself inexplicably drawn to him. As in _drawn _to him. He rolled his eyes with a sigh. He was such a lovesick, daydreaming idiot. He picked up the plate and cup after putting everything else back in its proper place, balancing his lukewarm tea on one arm, and made his way up the back stairs, the master key dangling from his fingers. Dropping the tea off in his room, he made his way down the hallway, quietly unlocking Takao and Max's rooms so they could "escape" the next morning. When he reached the end of the hallway, he put the plate and cup full of coffee down on the floor outside of Kai's room. Even though he was as silent as he could be, the plate slipped as it neared the floor and fell the remaining half-inch, landing with a _klunk_ that seemed to reverberate in the still hallway. Rei winced, standing up. He turned to go when he heard the door open behind him.

He turned to see a disheveled, shirtless Kai - luckily his crimson eyes were bright and alert, so Rei knew he hadn't awoken him.

"You took longer than usual," the usually silent teen remarked. Rei blinked. Had he been...

"Were you waiting?" he asked, keeping his voice down so as not to wake the others.

Kai, however, had no such qualms about his sleeping teammates, speaking in a perfectly normal voice. "Yes."

There was an uneasy silence in the hallway for a moment before Kai bent down to pick up the plate and cup. He smirked - not smiled, Rei noted, smirked - at Rei. "I've been wanting to ask you for the longest time: how the hell do you know this?"

"What?"

Kai nodded down towards the plate. "The food, the coffee...it's not like I ever told you."

Rei gave a one-shouldered shrug. "Eh. I have a bit of a photographic memory - I kind of automatically store away stuff. I don't even realize it, it just happens."

"Hn."

Taking that to mean that the conversation was over, Rei turned to leave, but nearly jumped a foot in the air when a cool hand closed around his wrist. He turned and amber-gold eyes met surprisingly warm, sincere crimson. "Thank you."

Rei fell asleep that night with visions of those crimson eyes firmly in his mind.

* * *

A/N I was reading through the chapters today and I couldn't stand the errors any longer...so I went through and fixed everything. :)


	2. Hiwatari Kai is Frustrating

Rei's amber-gold eyes opened slowly the following - well, late that same morning, really. He sat up in bed, taking his time to let himself stretch, working out the little knots and kinks his body always somehow acquired when he slept. He blinked sleepily, allowing himself a yawn, and glanced over at the black electric alarm clock on the nightstand beside his empty mug of herbal tea. Six o'clock. Well, an hour wasn't bad. The tea had had a less soothing effect then usual, though, and Rei had no doubts as to what had caused it. It wasn't that he had grown used to the tea or that he hadn't made enough.

It was those thrice-damned crimson-red eyes.

He sighed and swung his legs out of bed, knowing that once he was up there would be no return to sleep. He silently wondered whether or not Kai was up - the blader was a notoriously early riser. In three years, Rei had beaten him for perhaps a week's worth of days. He frowned. Did the teen lack the need for sleep or something? Yet another thing to ponder on, he mused as he stepped into his bathroom.

Goosebumps ran up and down his skin as his feet made contact with the icy-cold tiles that were chilled like only early-winter-morning tiles could possibly be. He ignored them as best as he could, doing a few rough mental calculations to figure out exactly when he should start making breakfast. Because it was their day off - no matter how pissed off Kai was, he never went back on a promise -, Takao and Max would be up earlier than usual, probably at around eight. Kyoujou would show up around half an hour after that, and Rei had no idea when Hiroshi would be up. He had been ever-so-slightly intoxicated last night when he had strode in, though still sober enough to help Rei finish cleaning the training hall. Grandpa was on a cruise to relax, paid for by the BBA, so he had no need to worry about the old man.

He stripped, turning on the shower. Steam rose quickly in the small room, the mirror clouding up rapidly. He pulled out the rubber bands securing his raven hair, which fell around him like a curtain. He impatiently moved it out of his way as he scrounged for clean towels beneath the sink, muttering about getting it cut sometime, maybe. He knew inside that he never would, but protesting somehow gave him some childish satisfaction.

He stepped into the shower, sighing as he shivered again when the hot water hit his now chilly body. He poured some shampoo into his hand, noting briefly that this was a diffferent kind then he normally used, and massaged it gently into his scalp, raising up the hair to work his fingers through it all the way to the bottom. He let the warm liquid rinse the suds out of his mane, closing his eyes.

He should have known better. As soon as his own eyes were shut, another pair of different, warm, mysterious crimson eyes appeared in his mind. He opened his orbs, scowling. Why couldn't he get the moment out of his head? Why couldn't he get _Kai_ out of his head, for Buddha's sake!

He rubbed in some conditioner, and then scrubbed himself clean before rinsing that out too. It was a normal thing, he knew...only he never realized that Kai actually _waited_ for his to bring the food. Had he been awake all those other times as well? The teen confused Rei. Why would he stay awake and wait if he could just go downstairs and get it himself. He rolled his eyes. Simple and clear their captain was not.

He stepped out of the shower, turning the knobs off with a flourish. He dried himself off, toweling his head until his hair was only semi-damp. He then wrapped it tightly into a white hair-wrap. He watched as it rapidly soaked up the remaining dampness. He sighed, knowing he shouldn't have done that -now he'd have to wash it. It was from the village, which meant that it was intolerant of the "modern" shampoos and such that he used in his hair, and that prolonged contact could cause it to stain or get holes or something. Unwrapping it, he reached for another, cursing mentally when he realized there were no more left. And the darks were in the dryer, too...

He frowned. He'd have to leave his hair unwrapped for the day, settling for a low loose ponytail at the base of his neck. The hair tapped gently at his bare skin around his waist and he sighed. He hated leaving his hair "loose" like this.

Putting the matter behind him, he donned some jeans and a sweatshirt and left the room, grabbing his wallet. The supermarket down the street was open at seven, or in five minutes. He needed some more food...

Rei sighed, spraying thebaking pan with some spray or another that was "Guaranteed to prevent messy foods from sticking!". He didn't know whether pancakes, eggs, bacon, and bicuits counted as "messy foods", but he figured it couldn't do that much harm. The oven timer went off - ah, so the preheat was done. He slid the biscuits onto the tray and placed them in the oven, closing the metal-and-glass door gently and setting the timer for fifteen minutes.

He cleaned out the coffeepot, putting in a new filter and such, closing the lid, and turning it on. The bacon was next, and then the pancakes. The smell of frying meat and cooking bicuits and pancakes began to flow throughout the dojo, and then the scent of fresh-made coffee (later joined by rapidly-brewing herbal tea).

Rei sat back at the table. The biscuits had five minutes left, three for both tea and coffee, the bacon was cooling, and the pancakes were buttered and cooling as well. He smiled contentedly and closed his eyes for a moment.

"Your hair is different."

He leapt out of the chair, skidding around to stare at the source of the comment.

The cool Russian teen merely raised an eyebrow as he took a seat at the table. "A bit skittish, hm?"

_Why can't I hear him coming like I can with everyone else?_ Rei fumed silently, feeling his cheeks heat up. Kai either didn't see his teammate flushing or chose to ignore it, going on with his previous subject. "Run out of wraps or something?"

"Yeah, actually."

"Hn."

There was silence between the two for the next five minutes as various timers went off. First the kettle, then the coffee, then the biscuits, which he set on the stove to cool. He poured a cup of coffee for Kai and a cup of tea for himself, bringing it back to the table and handing it to the other, who nodded his thanks. He took a small sip and stared off out of the kitchen window, crimson eyes fixed on something that only he could see.

"So..." he finally said. "What happened in the training hall?"

"What didn't?" Rei shot back. "Red paint, split end tables, cracked DVD players, wrestling matches, broken lamps..."

"Hn. I gather Idiots One and Two were responsible?"

"Yeah."

Silence reigned once more, this time slightly more comfortable than the one that had previously resided. "Biscuit?" Rei asked after afew moments, setting down his tea and walking to the cabinets to pull out plates.

"No."

Rei nodded, used to the usual lack of nicities - although last night Kai had had a surprising lapse in that particular trait with his quiet "Thank you" - and proceeded to set the table. The normal creme plates. Two tall glasses of millk, white for Takao and chocolate for Max. Kai already had his mug of black caffiene - and that's really what it was, Rei mused - and Hiroshi fixed his own coffee. Then came the servings: five pancakes, six slices of bacon, and three bicuits for the Pi-...for Takao, two pancakes, two slices of bacon, and one biscuit for Max, one of everything for Kyoujou, a pancake, three slices of bacon, and half a bicuit for Hiroshi...

Rei paused and turned to Kai. "Do you want anything?"

The teen's eyes were closed, rim of the coffee mug gently pressed against a closed, very kissable mouth, breathing deep and gentle. One crimson orb opened to look at Rei. "A pancake and two slices of bacon is fine."

Rei nodded, sliding the requested items onto a plate and setting it in front of Kai. He then took out some forks and knives. The team had all used Western cutlery - and ocasionally, such as Western cuisine - after Max expressed how much easier he found it to eat with it. Takao had picked it up easily, Rei with almost as little effort, and Kai had been Kai and done it perfectly the first time. He checked the clock on the stove - eight o'clock. Sure enough, the sound of two doors bursting open and four feet banging down the stairs alerted the two more mature teens of the other's arrival.

"Stop!" Rei said as they dashed into the kitchen, using his best "Manage the Troops" voice. It always worked.

Sure enough, the two froze. Their hair was messy and tangled and knotted in every possible way known to mankind. Max was wearing long flannel pajama pants with a white t-shirt, while Takao wore some black-blue sweatpants and a shirt with duckies on it. When he saw Rei's questioning glance, he blushed but grinned. "I like ducks," he defended. Rei bit back a chuckle.

"Okay, listen up: before you can have breakfast, you need to be showered, have your teeth brushed, and be dressed for whatever you plan to do today. Think you can handle that?"

Takao mock-saluted him as Max simply nodded. They turned on their heels and made a mad dash up the stairs again, squabbling as they went about who would get the bathroom first. Rei rolled his eyes and turned back to the table where Kai still sat, looking at him with unreadable eyes. Kai raised an eyebrow. "Since when have you had that much control over them?"

"Since they realized that I was the only one who'd actually cook for them."

Kai smirked - not smiled, _smirked_ - in that sexy way of his and closed his eyes again. Rei sank into the chair opposite him, allowing his confusing, sometimes randomly insane thoughts to drag him into the little corner of the world that was his mind.

And, of course, his mind inevitably turned to the teen sitting across the table from him.

He had known for a while that he had harbored _something _for the Russian teen. Just what that something was he still wasn't sure, even after nearly three years. Yes, that long. Well, he'd had feelings for that long, but he'd only truly acknowleged them about a year ago. He held in a sigh. He hated crushes.

The sound of the front door closing brought him back into himself again - hello, world - and back on his feet. He checked the clock - eight thirty, so it had to be Kyoujou - and then headed for the stairs. The other two weren't down yet, and it was too quiet up there for them to be innocent.

He mounted the stairs, picking up pictures the two had knocked off the wall as he went. When he reached the top he gazed, speechless for a few moments, then sighed. Tables were strewn onto the wood floor. Three vases and a small lamp on one of them had broken. A puddle of water sat outside the open bathroom door. He peered in and smiled gently at the sight. Max was putting a bandage and gauze and some Neosporin on Takao's knee, which he had somehow apparently injured in the hallway. What came next made Rei blink and then smile even wider.

Muttering something about "stupid klutzes who can't wait to get into the bathroom", the American blonde leaned in and brushed a chaste kiss on the unsuspecting dragon's lips. The world campion looked surprised only for a moment before he kissed back. Things were heating up fast, and Rei cleared his throat loudly. The two sprang apart, Max overstepping himself and banging his head into the wall, Takao falling into the sink.

"Just thought I'd let you know that Kyoujou is here and that you _will_ be cleaning up the mess in the hallway."

The two heavily blushing teens - now dressed and apparently showered, Rei noted with some satisfaction - nodded wordlessly. He smirked at them. "You guys do believe in condoms, right?"

Max choked out a strangled gargle before he realized that Rei wan't calling them "devil-spawn". He grinned his best happy-puppy grin and leapt up, hugging his older teammate tightly. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" he squeaked.

Rei chuckled. "C'mon, Max, I need to breathe. Breakfast is ready for those of you who want it."

Two blurs raced past him and down into the kitchen, accompanied by loud whoops and shouts. Rei sighed, smile fading. Buddha, how he wanted something like that...but with his crush, he barely even got acknowledgement. He sighed, pushing that thought to the back of his mind and resuming his smiling appearance as he went back downstairs.

As soon as he entered the kitchen, Takao looked up. "Rei, I wanted sausages!" he whined. Rei shrugged.

"You should've gotten up before I did to request them, then," he said easily, althoughslightly offended that Takao had not even said thank you for the food he had in front of him.

"But Re-ei..."

"That's enough, Kinomiya." All eyes in the room - and Kenny's glasses, because he kenw if the kid even HAD eyes, Rei mused - turned to their captain.

"Huh?"

"Rei made you food, didn't he? He was actually up, unlike you. Don't you think you should eat what's in front of you and thank him for it instead of asking for something else?"

"...O...kay..." Takao turned to Rei, looking a bit uneasy. "Thanks for the food, Rei. It's really good."

"Welcome. I'll remember the sausage thing next time I make this."

Takao beamed up at Rei as he finished his meal. Max was putting his plate in the sink. "Hey, Maxie, catch!" Takao cried, tossing the good chine plate at Max. It fumbled in his wet fingers and crashed onto the floor. "Whoops!"

Max giggled and leaped over the mess. "Sorry, Rei!" he laughed, pulling Takao and Kyoujou, who was downing the last of his orange juice, up and into the backyard.

Rei sighed, kneeling down onto the floor. He began to pick up the pieces. What were they thinking? They had been more hyper than usual...he made a note to talk to them about their relationship and how they needed to remember to respond to others. He guessed they had forgotten, because they were never this bad before.

He picked up a particularly large, sharp piece a bit carelessly. It sliced into his finger. "Dammit," he muttered, shaking his hand. He looked at the finger to assess the cut. It was deeper then he had thought, blood literally flowing out. He sighed and began to rise when a slender hand on his shoulder stopped him. He looked up in front of him to see Kai kneeling down as well. His other slim hand wrapped around Rei's wrist, slender fingers cool against his warm skin. Crimson eyes studied the cut.

"Hm...that's pretty deep." Rei blinked; Kai's tone was soft, like it had been last night, and his eyes were gentle. A cool fabric wrapped around his finger. Kai opened his mouth to say something else when...

"Uh...I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

Both teens looked up to the doorway to see a half-sleep-dazed Hiroshi blinking down at them. Rei immediatly felt his cheeks heat up - both kneeling on the floor, his hand basically in Kai's, and Kai's other hand on his shoulder. Not as bad as it could have been, but still bad enough to feel awkward when someone caught you.

"No, no," he said hurriedly. He felt Kai's hand tighten somewhat on his wrist. The teen turned back to him. "...Just be more careful, alright? I'll talk to Idiots One and Two about respect for property." He stood, his hand still on Rei's wrist, pulling the neko-jin up with him. He let go just a bit slower than an average person, their fingertips brushing ever-so-gently. Then Kai was gone in a whirl of his custom scarves.

Did he just think Kai's eyes were caring? Or did he view Rei as only a friend? Or an acquaintence? Was the whole "caring about him: scenario just because he was on the team? Rei wondered if he was tricking himself into thinking that Kai was actnig as though he was attracted to him. Maybe he was just reading too much into the actions and seeing what he wanted to see.

"...Is there something between you two?"

Or maybe not.

Hiwatari Kai was a very, very frustrating person.


	3. Running in the Rain

A/N Meh. My apologies for the recent lack of updating...my inspiration was dead. Thankfully it pulled a resurrection adn now I'm back...-grins- Anyway, you're not reading to hear me talk about me and my newly-arisen inspiration, so here you go.

* * *

Rei sighed, pushing a stray strand of black hair back behind a slightly pointed ear. He tapped his silver pencil against the stubbornly blank sheet of white paper, willing the words to spring from his mind onto the paper...but, alas, the words weren't listening very well today. They never were, really. He was only able to write, it seemed, when he knew no one was going to read it.

He shifted for the umpteenth time, curling his feet under himself as he sat on the windowseat. He glanced down at the letter he had received this morning from his old teammates back in their village - three pages full of Lee's small, cramped writing with a few things added in here and there by the various members of the team. It was easy, Rei mused, to tell who had written what, even if you didn't know them very well. Kevin's handwriting was thin and slanting, like scratches made erratically with a knife. Gary's was thick and plodding, while Mariah's was written in a bright pink that had become her signature color.

Lee had written of the upcoming Asian tournament, how the elders were still arguing over which way the wind had been blowing the day Lee was born - some insisted it was west and thus a good omen, while some insisted east and thus a dark one - and how Mariah had gotten a boyfriend. She swore it was because she liked him, but Lee stuck firmly to the theory that she was dating him to make Rei jealous.

A small smile appeared on Rei's lips as he re-read his friend's words. In a way, he had so much to tell them, but then he really couldn't. Nothing much had happened at the dojo, G-Revolution wasn't entering this year'stournament at the request of Mr. Dickenson, Takao's grandfather was gone, thus depriving Rei of any hilarious, random episodes occuring because of the old man...the only thing that Rei could really focus on was Kai, _Kai, **Kai!**_

He closed his eyes and let his head fall back against the wooden windowframe with a loud _thunk_. He REALLY hated crushes.

Abandoning the letter for later, he left his perch on the windowsill and padded his way down the hallway into the living room - newly painted, with a replaced DVD player and end table - where Takao and Max sat, cuddled together, on the couch. The lights were off and the curtains drawn, the only light coming from the TV. He poked his head in and cleared his throat, bringing their attention to him.

"What do you guys want for lunch? I'm not cooking."

"Uh...pizza?" suggested Max. Takao scoffed.

"Hey, we had your food for breakfast! We should each have out own meal with our own food and stuff!"

Rei rolled his eyes. "Then there wouldn't be enough meals for the team, Takao."

"Eh?"

"If we each had our 'own' meal, then that would be equal to four meals."

"...I have four meals."

"That's you, Takao."

The Japanese boy pouted as his boyfriend giggled softly behind his hand. "How about we compromise?" the blonde finally suggested.

"I find we're compromsing a lot more then we used to," Rei thought aloud, his two companions nodding in agreement. "So then, what do you suggest? 'Cause I'm _not_ getting Pizza Hut, Miyako, _and _Chang-Tao."

"Okay," Max shrugged. "Um...Russian!"

"Beg pardon?" Rei asked, eyebrow raised.

"You mentioned American food, Japanese food, and Chinese food...but when have we ever given Russian food a second glance?" asked Max. "I mean, maybe Kai knows a good...resteraunt...never mind..."

"No, that's not a bad idea, Max," Rei credited, biting his lip in concentration. "We don't need to ask Kai if he knows anyplace...there's always the old fashioned 'go-out-and-look' if all else fails."

* * *

THREE HOURS LATER

* * *

Rei held back a curse, literally biting his tongue. All this...just to get some damn food. First, he had looked for Kai to attempt to ask him. The teen was nowhere to be found. Hiroshi, Rei was sure, would know of someplace - but Hiroshi, as it turned out, was on yet another of his mysterious dates. So Rei had opted to go out and look, forgetting to even glance through the phone book first, being the idiot that he was. So now he was stuck cowering under a bus stop in the middle of one of the biggest thunderstorms he had ever seen.

He couldn't see a foot into the rain, much less see if the bus was coming. He prayed to Buddha that the rain would let up at least slightly so he could sprint to a store that he was _sure _was _somewhere _nearby and use the pay phone. He sighed, wondering why on earth he hadn't listened to Kai and bought a cell phone.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" he hissed, banging his head against the one of the bus stop support poles.

"You know that that kills brain cells, right?"

Rei stiffened, whirling around just as lightning flashed in his face like the flash of a camera. Seconds later, thunder crashed somewhere above him. "K-Kai!"

The Russian enigma stood beside him, closing his plain navy blue umbrella as he stepped beneath the overhang of the bus stop. His hair was slightly damp as he shook it out, his blue facial markings streaked and blurred. He wore different attire then he had this morning, as he was now sporting a pair of baggy jeans and a long-sleeved loose black sweater.

"What are you doing here?"

"Waiting for the bus. I had assumed that that was what one did at a bus stop," the teen said acidly, no hint of the early-morning kindness in his voice. Rei held back a cringe at the harsh tone. "And what are you doing out here?"

Rei shrugged. "I was just trying to get lunch, but apparently Fate hates me."

"Lunch?" asked Kai, raising a slate-colored eyebrow. He raised his arm - the one not holding the umbrella - and shook back his sleeve to reveal a slender silverwatch. "It's nearly six."

Rei sighed in despair. He hoped that Takao and Max weren't worried about him...although they were probably too wrapped up in themselves to notice his rather prolonged absence, he thought wryly. The end of a statement greeted him as he left his thoughts.

" - late?"

"Hm? Sorry, didn't hear you." He did visibly cringe this time when he saw the glare Kai sent his way. The teen did, however, repeat himself.

"I said, why are you out so late?"

Rei sighed again. "We couldn't agree on what we wanted for lunch, so we compromised and Max came up with the idea of ordering Russian. I looked for you to ask you if you knew any Russian restaraunts, but you weren't home, and neither was Hiroshi. So I, being an _idiot_ - " - here he banged his head into the pole one time for emphasis - " - decided to go out and look for one. I didn't even check the phone book!"

"Or the weather forecast," Kai noted dryly, crimson eyes obviously taking in Rei's shivering form. His baggy black pants and dark red, long-sleeved t-shirt clung to him, wet and icy cold. Rei shot him a half-hearted glare before glancing out into the rain again. It poured down relentlessly, not showing the slightest signs of giving up. He gave a particularly violent shiver and sneezed. Crap. The last thing he needed right now was a cold.

"Idiot..." he heard Kai mutter before something warm and soft was thrown at his head. "Put it on before you catch bronchitis or something."

He blinked down at the soft, warm, black fabric in his hands and glanced over at his captain, who was looking uncomfortable as he stood there, arms bare, in a white undershirt. "Thanks," he whispered, knowing Kai would hear, as he slipped it over his head. It was a turtleneck, he noticed, and when he didn't fold it down it covered his nose. He inhaled, taking in the scent of the other boy's (expensive) cologne and the unique winter-esque scent that he found only Kai possessed...not that he went around sniffing clothes or anything.

He folded the neck down (rather reluctantly...he liked the smell) and settled himself into the warm fabric. He hadn't realized that Kai was bigger then him, and, judging from Kai's raised eyebrows, neither had he. "Are you eating alright?"

"Yeah..." Rei said, looking down at the sweater. "I think you just work out more..."

"Hn."

It was big on him, the sleeves a tad too long, the bottom slipping just below his waist. He didn't care.

It was _Kai's_ sweater.

"We're going to have to run."

"Excuse me?" Rei asked, not sure if the sweater was giving him hallucinations.

No, it wasn't the sweater; Kai was opening his navy blue umbrella and peering out into the rain. "The buses won't be running in rain like this...we have to get back to the dojo on our own."

Rei blinked and peered up at the sky just as a huge roll of thunder crashed. He jumped. "No."

Kai turned his crimson gaze on the still-shaking neko-jin. "I beg your pardon?"

"I'm sorry, Kai. I respect you as my captain and my friend, and I will accept the rest of your decisions without question, but I am _not _going out in _that_."

Kai shook his umbrella, tossing off droplets of rainwater. "Yes," he said matter-of-factly, "you are."

"No."

"Rei. I'm not in the mood to argue. It's only a fifteen minute walk. We've run past here during our morning jogs for training. You're _coming." _

"No!"

At that moment, as Kai reached for Rei, lightning flashed vibrantly, another roll of thunder booming across the sky. The neko-jin eep'ed and literally leapt into his captain's arms, realizing what he had done only seconds after he had done it. He squeaked again skidded back to his previous spot, his shaking intensified, a bright, vibrant red blush spread across his cheeks.

A mystified expression crossed Kai's features. "Are you..._afraid?_ Of the _storm?_"

Rei bit his lip, mumbling a quiet, "Yeah."

The half-curious, half-exasperated expression made its way onto the Russian teen's handsome face. "Why? You've faced Boris Kuznetsov, for god's sake, why are you scared of a little light and noise?"

"You make it sound as though it's not..."

Thunder rolled.

"..._that_."

Kai rolled his eyes. "Come on." He put the umbrella over his head, grasped Rei's arm, and stepped out into the rain, pulling Rei with him. He tilted the umbrella ever-so-slightly, he noticed...so that Rei wouldn't get wet. He blinked. Kai's grip on Rei's arm loosened somewhat but the hand didn't remove itself... Damn his imagination...reading too much into every little thing.

They walked most of the fifteen minutes in silence, save the occasional, "Turn right," or "Curb". The arrived in front of the dojo, both a little damp, but whole and all bodily parts, thankfully, intact. Kai removed his hand from Rei's arm just as thunder crashed, the loudest "explosion" yet. Rei yelped audibly and dived for the nearest cover - which happened to be, to his body, burying his face in Kai's chest. Rei felt his cheeks turn bright, flaming red once more as Kai gently - gently? - pried him off.

"Rei," he said softly. "There's nothing to be afraid of. I'm here. I promise." He turned and walked inside, leaving a confused, semi-cold, shivering neko-jin on the front porch.

* * *

A/N Well, damn. That took a strange turn. I hate it when my stories get out of my control...--

Review, if you'd be so kind.


	4. Chaos in Russian Restaurants

A/N Many apologies for the long wait! I'd give you a list of excuses, but you're here for the story...

**-:-:-:-**

Rei held a page of his book between two fingers, sniffing the air tenatively as he paused in his reading. If his nose was correct (and it was rarely ever wrong in matters concerning the cooking of food) then the nabemono 1 was almost done, along with the melonpan 2 - hopefully Takao wouldn't be home soon, or he might actually attempt to climb into the oven to eat the bread. He would give both dishes about five more minutes before they were due out, leaving him ample time to finish up the chapter.

He had just returned to the enrapturing world of Middle-Earth when his ears picked up the sound of a door opening and closing quietly and soft, bare-footed footsteps on the wooden dojo floor. Rei bit back the reflexive smile that threatened to creep across his face at the familiar noises - Kai had returned from his private training in time for lunch, for once.

It was nearly a week after The Incident (as Rei had taken to calling the thunderstorm fiasco), and Kai had barely spoken to them. They had no training, which was a huge lapse in communication, seeing as that was when the team did most of its talking, and they had no charity events or tournaments coming up, which meant that there was no need to collaberate their calendars and spend time getting a speech ready or something. The last thing Kai had said to him was, "The bathroom's free," two nights ago...but still, Rei couldn't help but feel a bit...giddy?...whenever he heard his captain approaching.

He heard the door behind him slide open and closed before he felt Kai's presence behind him. He heard the elder, slightly taller teen sniff slightly, and he could picture his expression: flawlessly blank, as always, save the eyes, which showed that Kai was obviously trying to figure out what, exactly, Rei was cooking. Fairly soon, if he couldn't figure it out, his curiosity - and Kai did have a strange little quirk with his curiosity - would kick in, and he would ask Rei. Kai was, after all, the great Hiwatari, and Buddha forbid he should _not_ know something for more than five minutes.

Sure enough, as if on que, Kai asked, "What're you making?"

"Nabemono and some melonpan for desert - for Taka, seeing as he's the only one eating here this afternoon..."

"Some?"

"A lot," corrected Rei. "I'd've thought that you would've realized that I speak in Takao-terms when referring to food now."

"Doesn't everyone who spends too much time around the brat?" Kai groused, letting himself sink into a chair beside Rei, who set his book down to experimentally sniff once more. Satisfied that the nabemono, at least, was done, he stood and moved over to the stove. He gingerly picked up the steaming clay pot and moved it to the center of the table, setting it down on the scaled-down version of a burner on the stove. He stirred it once around before turning the smaller stove onto low and turning the regular stove off.

He moved to go get the bowls, only to find that they were not in their usual cupboard. He sighed, making a mental note to remind Hitomi that she wasn't the only one that used the kitchen and, thus, she couldn't rearrange things on a moment's notice and not tell anyone. He began his search for the bowls, chopsticks, and plates, earning several odd looks from the dual-toned enigma seated at the table as he slammed cupboard doors open and shut. He finally found everything - except the bowls. He narrowed his eyes in frustration, glaring venomously at the one cabinet he hadn't looked at - the one cabinet in the entire kitchen that he couldn't reach into on his own.

He dragged a chair over to it, pushing it against the long doors of the pantry so that the back of the chair was up against the doors. He then climbed onto the seat, standing on tiptoe to peer into the cupboard. "Ah-ha," he muttered to himself triumphantly. "Gotcha."

He reached as far back into the cupboard as he possibly could, feeling the bowls right on his fingertips. He growled in annoyance, waving his arm about. Suddenly, he felt the chair give an unexpected wobble. He wavered, trying in vain to catch his balance. Calculations flew through his head - the countertop was four feet away, just a big enough gap to give him a concussion - and then he was falling, his hands grasping at nothing. He screwed his eyes shut, bracing himself for the impact, just a litte bit more -

He hit something, and that something said "Oof!"

The last time he checked, he was fairly sure that counters didn't say "Oof" when you hit them. Nor did they have two _very_ nicely toned arms that wrapped around your torso with surprising gentleness.

"Klutz," he heard a familiar baritone voice murmur before he was set down. "Next time, just ask me to get it instead of acting like an idiot."

Rei flushed a dull pink as Kai nearly effortlessly reached up and swiped the bowls from the shelf. He handed them to Rei, trademark scowl firmly in place. He began to sweep out of the room, scarves swinging behind him. Just as he reached back to close the door, Rei got ahold of himself and realized that Kai had just saved him from quite a bit of pain and bloodloss and hospital smell (and how he _hated _hospital smell...) ...plus he had gotten the bowls. "Thank you," he said quietly.

He could have sworn Kai had said, "You're welcome."

**-:-:-:-**

"Oh Rei, my heaven-sent angel, take me now!"

"Actually, I don't think Max would really approve of that, Taka...but nice try. The groveling was a bit much, though," teased Rei, smirking playfully when Takao flushed a dull red at his implications. He gently thwacked the back of the 'blader's cap-clad head as he passed the figure that was sunk into a half-bow, on his knees on the floor of the dojo kitchen. The teen gaped after him, scarf trailing over the wood as his head swivelled to follow the Chinese teen's path.

"You're just going to_ leave_ me here? To _starve_? Oh Rei...I came in from out of the _frigid_ cold - "

"It's December in Tokyo."

" - and the _chilling_ gusts of wind - "

"There's barely a breeze."

" - only to find that Kami had sent me some _angel_ -"

"You do realize I'm Buddhist, right?"

" - who was fixing a meal of such _incredible_ smell, it nearly overwhelmed my senses - "

"It's nabemono and melon bread. We have it every Tuesday."

" - and now, this same angel is _leaving _through the gateway - "

"I'm just walking out of the door, Takao..."

" - to go and find he who is the _Lord of All Things Unspeakably Evil_!"

"...You mean Kai?"

"...Yeah. Him."

Rei shook his head, fighting desperately against the smile that was forming across his face. "The table's set, Taka, just serve yourself like a...well, try to serve yourself like a normal person, at any rate. Maxie's going to meet his mom for lunch today, and Kyoujou's having a family day or something..."

"Hiromi?"

"Working on something for the fair at your school."

"Hiroshi?"

"Date. Again."

"Grandpa?"

"Still on vacation. So yes, Taka, you'll be eating alone."

"What about you?"

"...I already ate, and I really don't think I can stomach watching you eat right now. Anyway, I doubt that even if Kai offered you'd want to eat with him, so..."

"That leaves me...all by my lonesome."

"Exactly. Now, if you'll excuse me..."

Without waiting for a "dismissal" from Takao, he turned on his heel and left the kitchen, sliding the door shut behind him. Bare feet padded down the cool wooden floor in the hallway and up the stairs towards his room. His hands were shoved deep into his pockets, his head bowed, eyes shadowed - he was deeper in thought then he had ventured for the past few days, that was certain. He was broken out of his trance-like state, however, when he collided head-on with a soft/hard (paradox, anyone?) surface - a surface that said "Oof!" upon impact...

"Hey, Kai," he said, stepped backwards and brushing his bangs out of his eyes. Kai scowled down at him, obviously annoyed at having his thoughts interrupted. His eyebrows suddenly twitched and his gaze intensified, though the glare side of it lessened somewhat. A slim, pale hand rose up to grasp his chin, the fingers slightly chilly. Crimson bore into amber, and Rei fought the urge to gulp. "Uh...Kai? What - "

"Why haven't you been eating?" asked the Russian teenager suddenly, slicing through Rei's question.

"Uh...I don't know what - "

"You know perfectly well what I'm talking about. Answer the question. Now."

"I've been...really, really busy." Kai couldn't bust him for telling the truth.

"How long?"

".."

"How long has it been since you last ate?" Kai asked, looking a bit annoyed that he had had to clarify.

"Oh...um...I don't know, a couple of days, I think."

"If you can't remember, then it's too long."

"Huh? Aren't you always the one yelling at Takao for eating too much?"

"Eating too much is being a glutton. Eating too little can be worse then overeating. Your body might collapse, your organs might begin to have problems functioning, your brain may not have enough energy to run your body...it builds up over time and degenerates your health until you're nothing but a vegetable."

"...How do you...?"

"A combination of paying attention in class and a few books."

"...Oh..."

Silence reigned supreme in the hallway for another few precious moments before Kai closed his eyes and sighed. "Come on," he said, turning around and walking towards the front door.

"...What? Kai - "

Kai turned around, annoyance flaring in his eyes. "Look, you need to eat and I need to eat. The pig has probably eaten halfway to New York by now, so either you come with me or you don't eat."

"Look, Kai, it's not going to kill m-"

"Let me re-phrase that," Kai interrupted, glaring at the neko-jin. "You are coming with me. You don't have a choice. We are eating, and you will eat a full meal, or Kami so help me, I _will_ shove it down your throat. We're going to begin training in a few months and I won't have you stuck in the hospital because of malnutrtion. Got all that?"

Rei nodded, a bit dazed. He tried to count the number of words in his head - he was fairly sure that this was the longest "conversation" he had had with Kai in quite a while.

"Good. Now follow me."

These words didn't register with Rei until Kai had gone and come back, sticking his head into the doorway. "Kon, stop standing around like some idiotic sheep and follow me or else..."

"Coming!" Rei said quickly, nearly stumbling in his rush to get to the door. His _mother_ gave horrible "or else"s...he didn't even want to imagine Kai's.

**-:-:-:-**

"Um...Kai?"

The teen walking a few steps ahead of him gave no sign of acknowledgement, but three years of intensive "Understanding Moody Russians" training had given him the ability to recognize the difference between the "I'm ignoring you" silence and the "Go on, I'm listening" silence. This was one of those in-between silences that meant: "I'm bored, but I'm listening", so he went on.

"Where are we going to eat, exactly?"

"..."

Rei sighed, shoving his hands deeper into the pockets of his black sweater-jacket, the hood pulled up to shield his ears from the chill in the air. They had been walking around downtown for about fifteen minutes now, and just as Rei was contemplating ditching Kai and going back to the dojo (he was never one for cold or for silence) when Kai suddenly turned abruptly and went into a small, somewhat squat building made of red brick with a sign that read "буфет".

"...Russian?" Rei said aloud to himself. Dubiously, he stepped into the building previously entered by his captain and stopped in his tracks, his nose going wild from the overload of fresh smells.

"Yes. Russian."

Rei jumped at the familiar baritone voice that issued from the shadows beside the door. His capitan emerged and approached the pale man in a waiter's uniform. They exchanged a few very foreign-sounding words before the waiter nodded. Kai looked over to Rei and tilted his head slightly, signaling for Rei to follow him.

The trio wound their way through the dimly lit resteraunt, passing tables with people speaking in various tongues - Rei caught a few he could name: Japanese (of course), English, the language he presumed to be Russian, some Cantonese and Mandarin, and a few words of French every now and then. The tables were small and round, draped in darkened red cloth that fit in with the atmosphere of the place: dark, secretive, and, in a way, almost romantic. Lamps with dark shades sat in the middle, highlighting gleaming silverware. Rei grimaced, painfully aware of the twenty that sat, all by its lonesome, in his wallet.

The waiter led Kai and Rei to a small booth in a tucked-away little niche. Rei slid onto the cushiony leather seats and picked up a menu as it was placed before him. He fought back the urge to twitch as he skimmed and found everything written in a very, _very_ foreign language.

"Um...Kai...I don't think..."

"That you can afford this? You can't. That would be why I'm paying."

Rei flushed, but went on nonetheless. "Not that, although it's true...thanks. But...I can't read anything on here..."

Kai sighed, pressing two fingers to the bridge of his nose for a brief moment before his hand picked up a menu, opening it with a sort-of flourish. A Kai-Flourish, Rei decided to dub it, as only Kai could pull off that sort of thing without looking gaudy.

"For starters, the first things on the menu are always soups. Since this is a winter menu that the resteraunt makes, these are all the variations of hot soups. Pick whichever you want, point it out to me, and I'll order for you. We order the main course after the soup."

"...Um...how do I pick?"

"How should I know? You can close your eyes and point to something for all I care, just order."

"...Right."

Rei's eyes looked down at the menu, mouth twisting in apprehension. He loved learning how to cook foreign foods, yes, but ordering expenisve unknown foods was another thing altogether. In the end, he decided to take Kai's advice (given with a generous amount of sarcasm, as his advice always was). Closing his eyes, he raised a finger and poked at what he hoped to be the part of the menu Kai had pointed out. He opened his eyes and shrugged; at least the words didn't look too forboding.

"Kai? This one..."

Kai leaned over the table to see Rei's choice, his chest ghosting lightly over Rei's hand. "Solyanka? Good choice."

"...Solyanka?"

"Mm-hm."

As Kai was obviously not big on explaining culture to a socially retarded neko-jin, Rei let the subject be, though he made a mental note to steal Kyoujou's laptop at some point in the week and do some research of his own. He was sure that Russia had an interesting culture - and he also wanted to check to satisfy himself that he wasn't eating lamb intestines or something.

**-:-:-:-**

"You are the biggest ditz I have ever known."

Rei was, by now, cherry-tomato red, and getting more colored by the second as Kai continued his verbal abuse of him. His afternoon (which had hovered somewhere above "okay" and "not-so-good") had gone down the drain in less then two seconds (where is went from "not-so-good" to "burning-in-Hell-horrible").

It had begun after the soup, which was excellent. They had been taking orders for the main course (pelmeni) when Rei had accidentally knocked his water over. He had apologized so profusely that Kai had to tell him to shut up three times before he actually listened. (Did that count as defying Kai?) Then, he had knocked Kai's plate into his lap, staining his tan pants with lamb-meats (and a very strong scent of garlic and lemon), at which point Kai had actually growled at him. Then, as what was apparently the icing on the cake, Rei tripped on their way out and knocked some influential Japanese buisnessman into a fountain. Unfortunately, the said buisnessman had large connections with the Hiwatari family, and Kai - _KAI! -_ was given a lecture on how to choose his company.

Rei, needless to say, was suffering from self-esteem issues at this point, with much help from Kai, who was taking every opportunity to berate him. Apparently, however, that was hi last statement, and Rei could survive the rest of the walk home without sinking into the sidewalk.

Or so he hoped.

These hopes were violently dashed to the ground, however, when he heard a very loud growling from the other side of the street. He glanced up to see a titanic black Great Dane, struggling and pulling against his leash, which his master was working hard to keep hold of. This would have been a terrifying sight for anyone, but it was all the worse for Rei - the dog was growling at him. He bit back a scream (a manly scream, not quite a yell, but close enough...) and fought down the urge to run after Kai and beg for protection.

The dog seemed to gather up its strength and lunged just as Kai turned around.

"Rei, what're you taking so long for -"

That was all that Rei heard before the dog threw him against the ground. He felt adrenaline begin to surge, his muscles tightening as he squirmed and twisted, trying to escape the grip of the black hellhound. He had very nearly pushed it off of him when he suddenly felt a breeze on his arm. He made the mistake of glancing down at his now-torn sleeve, and the dog seized the chance. It dove for Rei's other arm and sunk its teeth in as deep as it could get.

Red flashed in front of Rei's eyes and he let out a yell of pain. Through the haze, he realized that the dog had let go rather suddenly and that someone was holding him by the shoulders, lifting him up, running with him. His vision cleared just long enough to see two-toned hair, which triggered one though before he passed out:

_Kai._

**-:-:-:-**

A/N...MRAGH! CRAPPIEST CHAPTER EVER WRITTEN!

...Moving on.

I apologize sincerely for the lack of updates; school has started again, so I'm sure that everyone is swamped as well XD. Anyway, I know it's bad, but...meh. Many thanks to **Nedunque **for the tips on the food and such...Review and make me smile?


	5. Everyone Likes Squishing Things

Rei opened his eyes tentatively before snapping them shut again as wave after wave of nausea rolled over him. However minute this flicker of his eyes was, however, it was not too small to escape the notice of Takao, who immediately began to shout.

Rei, his mind a bit hazy, could not make out the words, but he recognized the sound of his Japanese friend's voice. His head began to pound at the intrusion of the very much unwelcome noise.

Rei heard pairs of feet pounding down the hall, catching the sound of a door sliding open. More voice joined the fray, though of decidedly lesser volume than Takao's. Rei lay still for about five minutes, attempting to discern the faces behind the voices. He eventually gathered that five other people were in the room: Hitoshi (his voice was slightly more mature, an immediate signal), Hiromi (her voice was fairly obvious), Kyoujou (the small boy had a voice to match his frame), Max (his voice, though with a worried intonation, was still rather chirpy), and, of course, Takao.

Rei's heart sank.

Where, in all this chaos, was Kai? The blader was notoriously silent, but still…

Suddenly his heart leapt to his throat as he heard a very, very familiar baritone speak up from the right side of the bed his was lying on. Once again, the words were fuzzy and unintelligible to Rei, but the very sound of Kai's voice was soothing to him. As soon as he had accepted this fact, however, another, rather frightening thought sprang to mind.

_What language were his teammates speaking in, that he couldn't understand them?_

He was brought away from his musings by the sound of feet shuffling away from him and a door sliding shut moments later. A few silent seconds passed before he felt rather cool, slender fingers running up his cheeks to his eyes. Fingertips gently prodded them open slowly, Kai's voice saying something to him.

"Don…open…fast…"

Hazily, he blinked, his eyes opening a little bit wider. The hands were removed from his face (much to his disappointment). As soon as he was about to open his mouth to complain about the loss (he really wasn't thinking clearly…) he felt the bed shift to the right as a warm weight settled near his waist.

Kai's face came into his line of view, a bit fuzzy. He blinked once, then twice, and tried looking at it again. Much better, he decided.

"Rei? Can you understand me?"

"Now I can…" Rei mumbled, bemused at the fact that he was able to understand Kai now whereas he had not been able to mere moments before. Kai sighed, nodding to himself as though he had decided on something.

"Rei, I was speaking…Japanese…earlier. Now, I'm speaking…Chinese…It isn't my best language, though, in case you...can't...tell."

Rei blinked. Then, speaking a bit slower than he usually did in his native tongue, he asked, "Why can't I understand Japanese? I mean, I was – am – fluent in it…"

"Shock," Kai said, shrugging. "From the dog."

Memories came racing back to Rei – huge dog, freezing, fighting…pain. And then…

"Kai…?"

"Hm?"

"How did I…how did you…bring me back here?"

A rather thick silence began to permeate the room, lasting for what felt like an eternity to Rei. Finally, Kai spoke, cutting through it. "I…carried you…"

"Oh."

The silence began to morph into something uncomfortable.

"Um…I don't know if it –"

"Thank you," Rei said quietly. Kai blinked, and then – Rei saw something in those crimson-tinted eyes soften briefly, the corners of Kai's mouth turned up in the slightest fashion in an almost invisible smile - he had way too much imagination.

"You're welcome."

The silence suddenly became much friendlier, and Rei decided that maybe it wasn't just his imagination after all.

"Can we come in now?"

Rei tried to turn his head towards the door at the sound of Hitoshi's voice, but was stopped by Kai's hand, which moved gently but swiftly to keep his head it place. "You'll only make yourself nauseous again," he said.

"Right."

Kai blinked, and a slight satisfaction crept into his eyes. "You must recover quickly from shock, then."

"Hm?"

"You're speaking Japanese."

"Oh…"

"Ahem…"

He watched Kai's head swivel to face the door, stoic expression firmly set in place. "What, Hitoshi?"

"We want to know when we can come in to see him."

"Why are you the only one who gets to see him!?" Rei heard Takao's voice scream.

"Yeah!" said Max's slightly higher tone from the background.

"Because I'm the only one that understood his language, you idiots. You can come in now, but no yelling. Can you manage that?"

"Sure thing!"

"…That was yelling, Taka," Rei sighed, closing his eyes.

"Oh…" Takao whispered. "Sorry, Rei."

"It's fine."

He took a deep breath before bracing his hands by his chest and carefully lifting his torso off of the mattress, eyes squeezed tightly shut in an attempt to ward off any sign of nausea. He opened them slowly and sighed when he felt no upheaval in his stomach. Lunch really was delicious…he'd hate to lose it so soon.

Just as his arms began to quaver, he felt a cool, steady hand between his shoulder blades, keeping him steady. He knew at once that it was Kai, and if he had had the energy to spare, he would have blushed. He was slowly raised to an upright position, and he turned his head to see his teammates enter the room.

"Are you feeling better?" Hiromi asked worriedly, her eyes radiating concern. He smiled at her.

"Very much so, thank you."

"You're too polite," Takao groused, slouching in after his friend, who turned around and punched him solidly in the shoulder. "Ow."

"Rei's always polite!" Max chirped from behind his (boy)friend, bouncing on the balls of his feet happily. Hitoshi stood behind him, looking over all of their heads. He smiled at Rei when he noticed the neko-jin's eyes on him.

"Recovered from the shock yet?" he asked kindly.

Rei caught himself before he nodded. "Yeah, thanks to Kai. What happened to the dog?" he asked, directing the latter part of his question at his captain, who sat back from adjusting Rei's pillows. As he guided Rei back onto the softness of the cushions, he answered.

"When I came in, I left you with Hitoshi...he called a doctor, who said you were fine, by the way. I went back to see the woman and her dog. She was in hysterics, although her husband was far more composed. He actually wanted to sue _me _for mistreating his dog...bypassing the fact that it tried to kill my teammate." Kai huffed in silent indignation, and Rei fought back a smile.

"So the dog is okay?"

Kai looked at him incredulously, his eyes asking 'And you care _because_...?'

"I care because even if we're at odds, it's still a living thing that deserves respect."

There was a silence in the room before Takao spoke up. "I told you he was too polite."

A pregnant pause -

"OW!"

* * *

A day after the incident, Rei was to be found in the dojo's kitchen, surrounded by small packages of freshly bought strawberries. He wore long, baggy pants and a short-sleeved shirt that revealed a thick white bandage on his arm. His hair was pulled back in a loose ponytail at the base of his neck, his bangs loose about his face because of the absence of his usual red bandana.

"Have we decided that strawberries are the fruit of the week?" questioned a familiar baritone from the doorway. Turning slightly, Rei saw his captain leaning against the doorframe, eyebrows raised at the amount of fruit in the kitchen. Rei laughed.

"They had a roadside sale on strawberries and I couldn't pass it up! I know that these aren't really in season, but they're so red and juicy..."

Kai shook his head. "How much did you spend?"

"Only fifteen dollars...and I'm going to make a treat for dessert tonight with them! And then another treat that I learned a while back."

"What's for dessert, then?" Kai question, looking rather unwilling to venture into the Land of the Strawberries.

"Strawberry shortcake! I found the recipe for the little cakes online, and it looked like fun to make...but I can wait until right before we eat to make them."

"And the other thing?"

Rei smiled. "It's something that I learned from an old family friend in France...strawberry jam - or strawberry preserves, whatever you want to call it. It's delicious!"

"Mm."

"Really!" he protested. "And it's simple to make, too."

"_Nothing_ is simple to make, no matter how many times you say it is," Kai grumbled.

Rei shook his head. "Whatever you say, Kai." He returned to sorting the strawberries, barely hearing his captain leave the doorframe. Half an hour later, he had washed all of the good strawberries and removed their leaves. They were piled up in two Tupperware containers (gifts from Judy). He set on the counter a large, deep bowl, a measuring cup, a measuring spoon, and a large wooden stirring spoon.

"And this is what now?"

Rei squealed (no, no, no, that was wrong he...well, he did something other than squeal, because guys weren't _supposed_ to squeal...) at the sound of the Russian baritone from behind him. Spinning, he faced a - well, a rather amused looking captain. He flushed.

"It's the jam."

"Ah." Kai peered at the array of things on the counter, brow raised. "And you're really going to make _jam_ with all of this?"

"Mmhmm!" Rei smiled. "See, it really is an easy recipe!"

"Doesn't look too easy to me," Kai mumbled.

"I can...show you," Rei offered hesitantly, looking up at his friend's face with a certain amount of uncertainty. Kai stared at the counter for a long while, before turning to face his teammate.

"...Okay."

Rei's face lit up, golden eyes dancing. "Alright! This is one of my favorite ways to use strawberries. Can you go get the sugar out of the pantry for me?"

Still looking wary, and appearing rather bewildered as to why he had agreed, Kai moved to the pantry, withdrawing a heavy bag of sugar, which he tossed onto the counter beside the measuring cup.

"Great. And here's the Sure-Jel...now watch. Usually, you can use a certain kind of machine to do this next step, but Taka doesn't have one in his kitchen, so we have to do this the old-fashioned way."

Kai began to look almost nervous.

Rei carefully measured four cups of strawberries into the deep bowl. "Now comes the fun part."

"I've never been more aware of the fact that my definition of 'fun' vastly differs from yours," Kai said, a note of severe uncertainty in his voice. Rei smiled at him.

"Come on. Everyone likes squishing things."

"...What?"

Laughing, Rei, in an answer to Kai's question, stuck his hands directly into the strawberries, feeling them squish beneath his fingers. Looking up, he saw one of Kai's smiles flit across his face and he pushed the bowl gently in his direction. Kai pushed back the long sleeves of his shirt, and, with a look of determination (mixed with a healthy amount of disbelief), stuck his hands into the bowl.

He pressed his lips together, and it took Rei a moment to realize he was doing it to conceal his smile.

* * *

A/N OH MY GOD.

I absolutely HATE this chapter, possibly more than anything I've ever written. Please, please, please, send me to Hell because of it.

Oh, and if anyone's interested, here's the recipe for the jam (seriously):

Four cups (two pints, one quart, whatever) of strawberries

Sugar (at least two cups)

Sure-Jel (Or some other kind of solution that jells the mixture)

You'll need a deep bowl (one that can be in the microwave), a measuring cup, and a tablespoon.

1. Fill the deep bowl with four cups of strawberries.

2. Squish them! (Have fun with your hands, or use a machine. Remember, we don't want them pureed; it's good it there are pieces of strawberry in the mix.)

3. Pour in two cups of sugar and two tablespoons of Sure-Jel (or whatever jelly solution you choose :P)

4. Mix it until you can't see the sugar or Sure-Jel anymore. (Use any kind of spoon you want:)

5. Put it in the microwave for about ten minutes. (You may want to take it out at five minutes and stir it a bit. Watch it to make sure that it doesn't overflow; it's a mess when it does, lemme tell ya.)

6. When you're done, you can serve it hot (it's especially good over hot French bread), or you can put it in a container and refrigerate it (it's good over drop bicuits in the morning).

The recipe is copyright my grandmother, a wonderful woman who is visiting for Easter break. I love her and her Cajun recipes to death :)

I can also give the recipe for a killer hash and some drop biscuits if you're interested.

...I think I like the A/N more than the chapter -cries-. So yeah.


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